Learning from a Project "Post- mortem"

               "A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service" (Portny et al., 2008, p. 2). My project that was unsuccessful happened about five years ago. Once out of college, I was hired at a middle school/high school to become a 7th and 8th grade Intervention Specialist. I was so excited that I had found a job and that I would officially be teaching. When I went in to meet my principal, I realized she was odd. She took credit for many things, which I already knew she did not do. She took credit for the littlest things: the wall colors, why her students were passing the Ohio Achievement Tests (at the time now Ohio Achievement Assessments) and who was hired or fired. She took me off guard because everything was all about her and she did no wrong.

                Towards the end of the year (April), I was asked to come into the principal's office to help with an idea. She had decided that the students Math achievement scores were not high enough, and they were making her look bad. Therefore, she needed the students to bring up the scores, and this needed to be done by buying something that helped them practice for the tests. She asked four other teachers and myself to become a team and find a solution to this problem. The first thing we had to do was " define the project concept clearly enough so that you can get support from key people in your organization" (Greer, 2010, p. 8). We all decided we would find some type of booklet that the students could either do in Math class or take home to do on their own time. Something that would help the students practice their skills before taking the OAT's. We went to the principal and told her our plan and she said whatever we needed, it could be done.  According to Greer (2010), we went through the first project management step: "Define the project concept, and then get support and approval" (p. 45). We were specifically told that she supported whatever we decided and the superintended supported whatever efforts we could find.

                "Get your team together and start the project" (Greer, 2010, p. 45). After giving us the problem, the teachers decided to meet a few times and all us teachers had agreed that we would buy a math booklet. It came down to two choices, Measuring Up or Buckle Down. Both went according to the 7th and 8th grade math standards. We asked for sample booklets from both companies, and both companies were happy to help us. After looking through both sample books, we as a team decided which one we liked. We "figured out exactly what the finished work product would be" (Greer, 2010, p. 45). We were all very excited about the booklet we picked and we were excited to get the information turned in to the principal so it could get ordered.

                "Estimate time, effort, and resources" (Greer, 2010, p. 45). It did not take much time to come up with the ideas of the math booklets because apparently, the teachers had already looked at buying these types of books before but the funding was not there. Efforts were important because without everyone in our group, we would have never made it as far as we did in that period.  In the end, we took our final product to the principal. We not only had which booklet we wanted to order, but also why we wanted this one. We also figured out how many students there would be the next year, and how much each booklet was, and how many we had to order to receive a teacher booklet. We handed in our proposal to the principal. She said she would look it over and get back to us. After about two days, one of the group members went to the principal and asked if she had heard anything back. The principal told us all to get a Purchase Order form (P.O.) and fill it out. She specifically told us not to put any names on the paper because she was not sure whom she should put so we left it blank. We all filled out the necessary paperwork and we gave it back to her. Personally, I was so happy with the progress I had made that year with my teaching, with work relationships, and I was very excited that I was asked to be in on this project.

                After a few days, the principal asked us all to come meet her in her office. She told us all that we would not be receiving books until the following year because we turned in our purchase order too late and the superintendent would not approve this. We also had apparently wasted our time, because in the end she ended up picking the other booklet because (we thought) she did not like our ideas. In the beginning of the year, we received an email from the superintended that congratulated the principal on her strong efforts and dedication to the entire project to helping student's math grades improve. Apparently, she had filled in her name on the purchase order and told the superintended she had done it all. This not only was a failure on us (teachers) because after all our time and efforts we put into this idea was wasted, but our idea in the end was not the one picked.

                I feel looking back now we did a great job with project management. "Project management is the process of guiding a project from a beginning through its performance to its closure" (Portny et al., 2008, p. 3). We all stayed within a period, budget, and we knew what our finished project should be. As of today, that principal has been demoted to an In- school Suspension. I was upset this situation happened, but at the same time, I never realized until now how much project management can come into any situation. We had many successes through the project but the biggest failure was putting all our trust into the principal and not handing it to the superintendent ourselves.  Honestly, I would not have changed anything about the project because not only did I develop good working relationships with my teachers but in time the principal was demoted because of the things she did to not only teachers but students. I feel like looking back, we accomplished many parts to the Project Management process but the one I wish we would have followed through with was "Close out phases, close out the project" (Greer, 2010, p. 45). Maybe if we did this stage correctly, we would have stopped the project and handed all our findings to the superintendent our selves. However, we live and learn.

References

                 Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Balitimore: Laureate Education, Inc.

                Portney, S., Mantel, S., Meredith, J., Shafer, S., Sutton, M., & Kramer, B. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons, Inc.